There have been subtle and not-so-subtle signs that golf’s efforts to keep politics out of the game are weakening.
In 2021, following the Capitol riots in Washington D.C., former R&A boss Martin Slumbers outlined that President Trump’s Turnberry would not return to The Open Rota until the organisation was sure the focus on the tournament would be on golf and nothing or no one else.
Fast-forward to The Open at Royal Portrush on the Antrim coast in July this year, and the new R&A chief exec Mark Darbon revealed he’d had ‘really good’ discussions with Eric Trump, who runs his father’s real estate businesses, and a ‘good dialogue’ about the championship returning to this part of Ayrshire.
A slightly stronger contrast can be presented with the PGA of America. Under Seth Waugh’s stewardship, Trump National in Bedminster was stripped of the PGA Championship in 2022, also after the riots, with the PGA of America concerned about the detriment to its brand.
But fast-forward to the 2025 Ryder Cup, which the PGA of America administered, and Trump was welcomed to Bethpage with open arms, helping to escort acquaintance Bryson DeChambeau to the first tee in front of a packed and loud grandstand full of US fans, and a lone sniper.
If Darbon put the key in the lock, President Don Rea of the PGA of America creaked the door ajar for Trump to peer inside, during one frenetic September afternoon on Long Island. The 45th and 47th President is even back in the PGA Tour’s good books next year, as the Blue Monster at his Doral estate is back on the schedule with the Cadillac Championship.
But apparently, reassurance arises from the unlikeliest sources. If you were worried golf was beginning to pander to politicians , might I suggest you catch up with the recent FIFA World Cup draw?
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Although I was watching a draw concerning international football teams, none of this excruciating, horrific show was about football.
It was an unbearable broadcast from the get-go. I imagine you have uttered similar words to your friends and family in various ways, and read about them online and in the papers, since this 90-minute cringefest aired.
The sport was secondary, a stranger in the background of a photo where FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented a peace award to President Trump.
Hosts Kevin Hart, Heidi Klum and Rio Ferdinand, no less, can’t wash their hands with this either. The agonising wait for the draw to actually begin was unfortunately complemented by extensive video montages of Trump propaganda being shown on the big screens in front of the great and the good of the football’s head coaches.
For Infantino, this was a grand networking exercise that finished with the President dancing his somehow iconic jig to YMCA by the Village People, who performed on stage at the end of the ceremony. This was a football draw, remember.
The draw took place two months after Trump pondered removing Boston as a host city for World Cup matches. He claimed the ‘radical left’ is taking over parts of the city and criticised Mayor Michelle Wu. He said similar about Seattle:
“If we think there’s a problem in Seattle where you have a very, very Liberal/communist mayor, we’ll say, ’Gianni, can I say we will move?’ I don’t think you’re gonna have this problem. But we’re gonna move the event to someplace where it’s going to be appreciated and safe.”
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Trump has no jurisdiction to move matches arranged by FIFA, but Infantino is so deeply embedded in the leader of the free world’s pocket, would anything shock you at this stage?
Having seen the effect that Trump can have on even the grandest and longest-standing organisations in FIFA, albeit a disgraced one too, we can give great thanks to golf for retaining some self-respect and not plummeting to the depths we saw before us at the Kennedy Centre.
Rory, Tiger and the like will probably still play golf with Trump in private, and his presence is still felt on the established tours, but at least in public, golf has largely resisted embarrassing pandering and surreal fever dreams like the World Cup draw.
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What do you make of Donald Trump’s golf involvement at the moment? Did you watch the Donald Trump-World Cup draw show? What did you think of it? Tell us on X!
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